


Kissing Stars

by TellerOfTales



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Fluff, Kisses, M/M, Post-Canon, Summer Palace, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 12:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15170855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TellerOfTales/pseuds/TellerOfTales
Summary: It was inevitable, really, that Laurent would burn while at the summer palace. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing though.





	Kissing Stars

Damen bit his tongue to hold back the, “I told you so,” that hovered right behind his lips. Laurent sat before him on their bed, working a cooling salve into his bright red skin. From the back of his neck to his mid-back and around across his shoulders, down his arms and chest, on the tops of his feet, and across his cheeks and forehead he had a nasty sunburn. One of the worst Damen had seen in a long while he had to admit. Laurent had been close to tears when he had sat in a hard wicker chair before he realized just how burned he had become.

  
Laurent had insisted on Damen showing him all his favorite craggy out coves along the shore after they had already had a long, meandering walk through the gardens. Damen had tried to talk him into taking a break inside but he had been determined to see the caves and tide-pools at low tide that day and there had been no talking him out of it.  

  
“Here, let me,” Damen said as he took the pot out of Laurent’s hands to apply the cream himself to his lover’s shoulders and neck. He settled behind him on the bed, intending to make it a nice massage session too.

  
Laurent hung his head forward, hissing at the initial contact with his burnt skin. As the cooling oils in the salve began to take away the sting, his hisses turned to aborted grunts and moans as Damen rubbed the tension out of his muscles.

  
After a time Damen placed a light kiss on the back of Laurent’s neck as he moved his hands to circle his waist in a loose embrace. Gently, he rested his chin on Laurent’s fair hair. A part of him noticed that it had lightened under the southern sun and now was the color of the pale beaches the summer palace looked out upon.

  
Below him, Laurent leaned back until his back rested flush with Damen’s chest. He lay his hands atop Damen’s and let out a sigh.

  
“You’re thinking too loud my dear barbarian.” He let his weight press Damen back until they were flat on the bed, Damen acting as a firm mattress under him. Laurent rolled over so they were chest to chest, eye to eye. Damen closed his eyes and scrunched his nose with a smile when Laurent dropped a kiss on his forehead.

  
“You can go ahead and say it.”

  
Before he did, Damen pressed a smiling kiss to Laurent’s lips. Just so he knew he was teasing.

 

“I told you so.”

  
Laurent rolled his eyes before rolling off Damen. Once more, his face twinged at the sting of something coming in contact with his sunburn.

  
“Why did you not make me listen when you warned me how bad it could be,” Laurent whined, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

  
Doing his best to comfort without cuddling, Damen replied, “I promise you’ll be better in the morning.”

 

***

 

Laurent was in fact, not better in the morning. His skin still felt too tight and stung at the lightest of touches. With a resigned look in his eye, he dug a book out from the chest of them he had brought with them across the sea and carefully eased back on the bed -conscious of his burnt back- to read it without bothering to put clothes on.

  
Damen wished him a good day before leaving to playing host for the other nobles and courtiers who had come with them to the palace. He was already looking forward to a private lunch taken in his chambers.

  
When his respite from the incessant chatter of nobles arrived, Damen all but ran to his room, eager to check up on Laurent.

  
His heart softened at the sight that greeted his eyes. Laurent was in the same position he had left him but asleep, with his book still open on his lap. On soft feet Damen walked up to him and carefully put the book aside, being sure to use the pressed flower to mark the page as Laurent had drilled into him rather than turn the corner of the page down as was his habit.

  
When the door started to creak open, Damen met the servant carrying a platter of food at the door. He took the tray and retreated back to bed with it.

  
The fragrant scent of steamed fish and herbs was enough to gently wake Laurent. He stretched his arms wide and wiggled his legs, yawning all the while. When he turned to look at Damen, he asked, “Is that all for me?”

  
“It's all for both of us,” Damen replied. Laurent hummed as he picked up one of the two forks laying beside the side dish of fruit and edible flowers.

  
Between bites, they traded conversation bits. Laurent told Damen about what was going on in the book he was reading. Damen told Laurent of the court gossip he had learned that morning.

  
Being kings, no one could say anything against them when they chose to stay in bed the rest of the day rather than go back out to interact with their court. Despite the gossip they were sure would fly, they didn’t get up to anything. Laurent once again sat forward to give Damen space to rub the burn cream into his skin as he read aloud. When Damen put aside the cream, Laurent made to put aside his book but Damen stopped him. There they sat, Laurent, reading aloud for the both of them while Damen played with his hair, attempting to braid it only to let the silky locks fall back into place.

  
They only left their room after a soft knock on the door interrupted their peaceful togetherness when a servant came to let them know dinner would be served soon and the cook wanted to know if they would be dining in the hall or in their chamber.

  
“In the hall,” Laurent said as he set aside his book and made to get ready for dinner, Damen following his lead.

 

***

 

The start of the following day found Laurent gazing at his arms with a look of utter betrayal on his face. They were peeling along with the rest of the skin that had been bright red the past two days.

  
His stomping about the bath, hunting for something to exfoliate his skin, was what ultimately caused Damen to wake.

  
Walking in to see his lover with an arm-full of oils, scrubs, and cloths was a sight that Damen wouldn’t soon forget. He laughed as he walked over to him, reaching out to pluck some of the bottles that looked about to slip off the pile at any moment.

  
“Don’t even say it Damianos,” Laurent warned as they stepped into the bath water, the soaps lined up along the edge.

  
Damen held up his hands in surrender. “All I was going to say was that I’d help get your back again, my lovely little lobster.” Quickly, he brought up his hands to break the water Laurent splashed up towards his face in retaliation. Damen couldn’t help but laugh more at the hard line Laurent’s mouth had set itself in despite the light twinkling in his eyes. They eventually moved on from a light-hearted splash fight to actually washing each other.

  
Damen hummed thoughtfully as he scrubbed circles on Laurent’s shoulders but said nothing. Laurent didn't notice his contemplation as he was too busy furiously scrubbing off the dead skin of his arms and chest.

 

When they were done, Laurent's skin was still glowing pink though not from the sunburns this time.

  
Now when Laurent dressed it was with the chiton covering both his shoulders and covering higher up on his chest and back. A part of Damen lamented the hidden skin but he also didn't want to see his love burnt to a crisp and in pain again. He himself loosely pinned a chiton only over one shoulder and kept it short with a leather belt cinched about his waist. His skin had tanned nicely under the hot summer sun and even dark freckles had appeared, splattered across his forearms and cheeks. Laurent had been the one to tell him they were on his cheeks with a delighted kiss.

  
That was what Damen had noticed while scrubbing his shoulders that made him pause. Scrubbing away the dead skin had revealed a single light freckle. It stood out on Laurent’s skin like the pole-star. He hadn’t said anything for fear his speaking of it would make it disappear.

  
The rest of the day found Damen trying to catch glimpses of Laurent’s freckle that would sometime peak out from under the chiton. Whenever his lover would catch him looking at his shoulder, Damen managed to brush off his confused looks with passing remarks or by putting his hand on his shoulder and rubbing his calloused fingertips along Laurent’s neck.  

  
Come night, Damen was like a nosy puppy as he searched Laurent for more freckles. His search turned up fruitless but he did get plenty of squeals of laughter out of Laurent as his hands skimmed over his skin light enough to tickle.

 

***

 

Days passed in easy bliss for Laurent and Damen at the summer palace.

  
They woke when the gulls started to cry in the early morning. Sometimes they would go for a walk on the secluded beach and watch the sunrise, other times they would snuggle closer together and drift back to sleep until the sun hung high in the sky.

  
During the day Laurent could be found in the shade of a fan held by a servant as he and Damen walked through the fragrant gardens.

  
At night the two played host for their guests. Good wine and food flowed, and most nights ended late as everyone danced the night away.

  
One morning found Laurent awoken by Damen kissing up his arm. Only when his arm was lifted and a kiss placed on his elbow did Laurent snort and draw his arm out of Damen’s grasp to look at his elbow himself.

  
“What are you doing?” Laurent could see nothing in the wrinkles of his elbow in the early dawn light that was further softened by the gauzy curtains.  
Damen took his hand to straighten his arm back out.

  
“Kissing all the freckles you have my love,” he answered earnestly.

  
Once more, Laurent took his arm back, inspecting it closely this time. Indeed, freckles dotted up and down his arm. A close look at his other proved more of the same. They were nowhere near as dark as some freckles he had seen on people across their nation but they were there. And it seemed Damen was taking it upon himself to kiss them all.

  
Already, he had made it up his arm and to his shoulders. Kisses peppered his skin and left him feeling warm inside. Laurent lay back with a smile in the mass of pillows at the head of their bed and closed his eyes, content to let Damen have his fun.

  
Maybe the sun of the summer palace wasn’t so bad after all.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you draw a freckled Laurent and show me on [ my tumblr ](http://www.the-teller-of-tales.tumblr.com) I will love you forever.


End file.
